


Domestic Tuesday

by PaigeTico



Series: xXFallenstarXx's BuckyNat Week 2017 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Minor cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 22:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10423548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaigeTico/pseuds/PaigeTico
Summary: In which Natasha tries to teach Bucky to cook.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS IS REALLY LATE I PROMISE I'M ALMOST DONE WITH WEDNESDAY'S FIC

James is woken by his bedroom door slamming open. 

‘Welcome to Cutthroat Kitchen!’ yells Natalia.

For a second he thinks he’s hallucinating. She’s wearing an apron over her widow suit and has flung a flowered apron at him. ‘Get up!’

James burrows deeper into his covers. ‘What the _fuck_ was in your coffee this morning, Nat?’

‘Water and ground roasted coffee. Get up!’

She bodily drags him out of bed and throws the apron onto him.

‘I remember the last time you cooked,’ announced Natalia. ‘It was microwaved macaroni and cheese. I can't let you suffer through living entirely off fast food when you're out by yourself and I can't cook for you. So today, you are going to learn!’

 _Probably sugar_ , thinks James. _Clint must have put sugar in her coffee._

‘So! Today you will make a full meal out of specially selected ingredients, chosen by yours truly. Everything you need is in the kitchen. Every few minutes a sabotage, which might be a new ingredient or—’

‘Yes! Okay! I get the idea! I watch Cutthroat Kitchen!’ Although Chopped is better, thinks James. 

Upon being shoved out into the hall, he stumbles into the living room. Steve, Sharon and Sam are sitting round the table, looking disheveled and irritated. Clint is still asleep on the couch. 

‘Good luck, Bucky. I'm going back to bed,’ mumbles Steve.

‘It’s too early for this shit,’ agrees Sharon. 

Sam’s half closed eyes open slightly. ‘Mind your language. Steve is horrified, see?’

‘No!’ snaps Natalia. ‘You are the spectators! Also, it's not early. It's six AM!’

On the table there is a bag of flour, a slab of mystery meat as well as assorted, seemingly random vegetables. Taro, celery, even rhubarb.’

James panics. He can't cook. 

_OK,_ thinks James desperately. _What dish uses flour, meat and vegetables?_

_Maybe I can bake a cake with the flour and use everything else to make a bowl of soup._

But there are no sugar or eggs in sight. He's going to have to use everything in the same dish. 

_I'll make a pie_ , decides James. 

Natalia never said anything about not being able to use technology, so he pulls out his phone and Googles ‘how to make a meat pie’. (It takes a surprising amount of time, because his metal arm messes up touch screens so he has to use his right hand to hold and type.) 

_This is going to take a long time,_ thinks James.

***

Maybe half an hour later, he's doing pretty good. Chopping stuff is surprisingly difficult, considering his proficiency in slicing up people with knives. If his other hand wasn't made of metal he'd probably had chopped it off by accident. 

Natalia sidles up to him. ‘First sabotage!’ she says cheerfully. She's calmed down considerably now, further strengthening his logic that someone had laced her coffee. 

‘Your challenge… is to incorporate this bag of Doritos into your dish!’

He sighs. ‘I can just barely understand making me learn how to cook, but in what universe will I ever need to know how to make a dish that involves _Doritos_?’

‘You never know,’ replies Natalia darkly. ‘Also, who knows? Maybe Doritos taste good in a cooked dish.’

James rolls his eyes inwardly, then returns to chopping asparagus. It's taking a ridiculously long time because they keep rolling away from him when he tries to cut them.

‘You're not doing it right,’ notes Natalia. ‘Here, let me help.’

She moves his hands, one into a claw position holding the asparagus down, the other holding the knife. 

‘Dig the top of the knife in first. The rest should follow.’

Skill acquired: chopping asparagus. 

***

Natalia eventually drops the whole sabotage thing and they end up simply cooking together. It feels weird and he's not used to the feeling of working together with Natalia on something as mundane as cooking. It's a good feeling, though. One that he vows to never forget. 

The pie comes out of the oven. It's lumpy and kind of burned at the edges, but smells heavenly and all that energy he spent cooking it is making him ravenous. 

‘Incidentally,’ wonders James out loud, ‘what kind of meat was that?’

‘You're going to have to find out,’ replies Natalia cryptically. 

The pie does not look much better on the inside. It's all brown and mushy. But the odd hodgepodge of earthy vegetable flavors goes unexpectedly well together, and if he ignores the fact that it looks like dog diarrhea wrapped in paper, it's a pretty good meal. 

James pecks Natalia on the cheek, leaving a sauce stain. ‘That was fun and all, but please never wake me up that early again.’


End file.
